Ray D. Stott, 28, butcher, saved Ronald C. Yaider, 9, schoolboy, from drowning, Cumberland, Maryland, May 26, 1956. While fishing from a sloped concrete retaining wall at the bottom of an eight-foot vertical wall along Wills Creek, Ronald, who could not swim, tumbled into the water. From an abattoir on the opposite side of the creek Stott saw Ronald floundering in water nine feet deep. Stott climbed over two five-foot fences, jumped 25 feet downward onto the sloped wall, and plunged into the water. Without removing his high rubber boots, Stott swam 75 feet to over a sump hole in the creek bed, where the undertow pulled him beneath the surface in water 14 feet deep. After removing his boots and trousers, Stott returned to the surface and continued swimming 50 feet farther to where Ronald had disappeared beneath the surface. On his second surface dive Stott brought Ronald to the surface. Stott then towed Ronald, who was unconscious, 30 feet to the sloped wall, where he revived the boy. With Ronald over his shoulder, Stott ascended the sloped wall and climbed to the top of the vertical wall and over a steel fence. Ronald, who again had lost consciousness, was removed to a hospital for treatment and recovered. Stott was tired, and a leg in which he wore a plate as a result of a previous accident was injured further. 43883-4088
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